No. 25 Wildcats Complete Road Trip at Washington State Sunday
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 25 University of Kentucky women’s basketball team looks to wrap up its first road trip of the season in winning fashion Sunday as it travels to play Washington State inside Beasley Coliseum for a 4 p.m. ET tip.
Sunday’s game will be televised live on the Pac-12 Network in Washington and streamed online at Pac12.com. The game can also be heard on the UK Sports Radio Network with the Voice of Kentucky WBB Darren Headrick on the call. Fans in Lexington can hear the call on 630AM WLAP. Free audio and live stats will be available on ukathletics.com.
Kentucky (3-0) is coming off an impressive road win at Montana on Thursday, turning a first-half deficit and even score at halftime into a 17-point win thanks to a strong second half. The Wildcats outscored the Lady Griz, who hadn’t played a ranked team at home since 2004, 44-27 in the second half to earn their third win of the season.
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| Kentucky at Washington State | ||
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Sun., Nov. 19 – 4 p.m. ET |
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TV: Pac12.com |
UK was paced in the game by junior guard Taylor Murray, who scored a game-best 18 points with 12 rebounds and three assists. The performance was her third career double-double, all of which have come in road games. Fellow junior guard Maci Morris scored 16 points with two rebounds and two assists, going 3-of-6 from long range. Sophomore guard Jaida Roper had another career night for UK, scoring a career-best 14 points with five rebounds and three assists.
As a team, the Wildcats shot 43.1 percent (25-of-58) from the field, hitting eight 3-pointers. Defensively, UK limited Montana to just 16-of-56 shooting, including 4-of-19 from long range. UK outrebounded the Lady Griz, 41-36, and had a 26-20 advantage in points in the paint, 18-10 advantage in points off turnovers.
Washington State enters Sunday’s game with a 1-2 record after dropping its first two games of the season at UC Davis and at St. Mary’s before earning a true road win at San Francisco on Wednesday, 74-70. The Cougars entered the season receiving votes in The Associated Press Top 25 before dropping its first two games of the season.
Borislava Hristova is the leading scorer for the Cougars this season averaging 18.0 points per game, adding 5.0 rebounds per game. Hristova is 21-of-47 from the field and 2-for-10 from long range. Alexys Swedlund is averaging 13.3 points per game and 3.7 rebounds per game this season and has hit a team-best seven 3s. Chanelle Molina leads the team with 11 assists.
WSU is averaging 75.0 points per game this season, allowing opponents to score 80.7 points per game. Teams are averaging 9.3 3s per game against the Cougars this season.
The injury bug hit Washington State again last season as each of their top two scorers missed significant time due to injury with Hristova only playing nine games, while Molina only played 17. Both averaged over 12 points per game. WSU put together a good postseason run last season, winning four straight WNIT games to make it to the WNIT Final Four.
Kentucky holds a 2-0 all-time record in games played against Washington State in women’s basketball with both wins coming in Memorial Coliseum. The first meeting was in November of 2006 when UK posted an 80-51 victory over the Cougars in Memorial Coliseum.
Kentucky defeated Washington State 69-67 in Memorial Coliseum last season getting a double-double from then-senior Evelyn Akhator, who scored 19 points with 13 rebounds. Fellow senior Makayla Epps scored 20 points in the game, while Morris had 14 points, going 2-of-6 from long range. The Wildcats were without Murray in the game, who was out due to injury. Washington State was paced by Swedlund, who had 20 points and hit six 3s, while Molina scored 17 points and had five assists.
UK jumped out to a 26-8 lead after the first quarter but WSU flipped the script by outscoring UK 28-12 in the second quarter. The Wildcats won the third quarter 20-16 to grab the lead before Washington State tightened the game late by winning the fourth quarter 15-11. Akhator made two clutch free throws late in the game to secure the UK win.
For more information on the Kentucky women’s basketball team, visit UKathletics.com or follow @KentuckyWBB on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, or Kentucky Women’s Basketball on Facebook.
